The Bottineau pioneer., 1887-04-14
4, INDUSTRIAL TOPICS.
Difficulties in Securing Perma-
nent Pastures in Many Parts
OF the United States.
Progress Made in FindingGooa Substitutes
for Anthricate Coal in the West.
Permanent Pasture.

Holland and Belgium, there is much
land that has been devoted to garden
ing for>centuries. During all this time
the sod has never been broken, and, un-
less a light scarifier was used, it has
never been disturbed, The belief is
generally in these countries that pas
lures, like wine, increase in value as
they increase in age. Many state that
the grasses best suited for the summer
feed of cattle, horses and sheep pro-
duce not only better but larger crops
as they become old. Dairy farmers in
England and Holland state that richer
milk is given by COWS that Craze on old
pasture than by those that feed on land
that was recently seeded down to grass.
Such being the case, they affirm that
the superiority of Cheddar and Edom
cheese is due to the herbage that only
grows in pastures that have long been
grazed by cattle. Butter produced in
the province of Normandy, France,
and in the south of Ireland commands
the highest price in the London market,
and in these places permanent pastures
are established institutions. many of
them remaining undistnrbed for CEN
turies.
There are other parts of the world
where the practice of keeping land per-
manently in grass designed to be eaten
Ia its green state by farm animals is
general. In the vicinity of Quebec and
Montreal, Canada, there are many
pieces of land that have been continu-
ally grazed since the country was first
settled by the French. They are still
very productive. and the quality of the
grass is excellent. They present the
appearance of well-kept lawns, though
1t is said no labor is expended on them.
Cows kept for the purpose of supplying
milk do the work performed by the
tawn-mower. There are very old pas
lures, not only in the villages, but on
sides, in Switzerland and
northern Italy. They are occupied by
cows, sheep, and goats, the milk of all
of them being used for making cheese.
There are some quite old pastures in
Virginia, Kentucky, and Vermont that
are very productive. The soil was slow
ly formed as the forests were thinned
out and the trees girdled and removed.
and it was never turned by the plow,
chiefly for the reason that the ground
was largely occupied by stones, stumps,
Ind roots. The ground has not been
plowed since the latter rotted because
it produced@so large an amount of ex.
cellent grass. ...
During the past few years there has
been vast amount of speaking and
writing in this country in relation to
permanent pastures, and the impress
sion has been created that it is compar-
atively easy to establish permanent
pasture sod almost anywhere, provid-
ing that the soil and climate are favora-
BILE to the production of grass, In con-
sequence of what has been presented
on this subject many have gone reso-
lutely to work with view of establish
ing a pasture sod that would be as
productive and as lasting as those on
the banks of the Meuse, Severn, and
St. Lawrence. They understand that
long time would be required to bring
about the desired results, but they were
not discouraged on this. account Many
were discouraged, however, when the
grasses they introduced began to die
out before they had formed tolerably
compact sod. Many dairymen in the
northwestern states succeeded in rails
ing bluegrass, red top, and other valu.
nble. pasture grasses on native prairie
sod, and in making their pasture carry
much more stock than they ever did
before. Some dairymen and beef pro-
aucers secured good and apparently
/ ! permanent< sod by sowing the seed OF
avariety of grasses and clovers on land
that had been under cultivation several
years. moving them a few seasons, and
then devoting the land to. pasturing an.
lmals.
The failures in securing permanent
stand of good pasture grasses have
been numerous, and many good dairy
men and cattle-feeders now contend
] that it is best to break up pasture land
after it has been grazed from five te
aen years, to raise one or two crops O.
sorn on it, to then raise one crop o1
/. small grass. and finally to seed it tt
grass and clover again. They. recon-
mend using these crops for hay at least
I TWO years, when they would devote the
land to pasturage. They state tha
moss, sorrel, and variety of weeds
spring up on the land that is grazed fol
several years in succession, and tina
they finally occupy as much ground AZ
The grasses do. When this is the case
they find the easiest way of killing this
useless vegetation is to plow it unde,
and TO make an entirely new start by
I lowing grass and clover seed on sol
hat is, in the best condition to insur,
4 termination and large growth. Oh
serving farmers in some portions q
This state declare that the productive
ness Of pastures constantly declines
I ind that a larger acreage,is required tx
Keep given number, of cattle or sheer
..yery year. They are advocaters o
fresh pastures. they manage theil
places so that all the land shall be III
pasture only a few years at a time.
It is likely ;that excellent permanen
pastures can he secured ia some por
lions of the e,eountry while they can no
be secured in others. A moist climatl
4 ike that Of ;northwestern Europe il
I rery favorable to the growth of grasl
md unfavorable to many other sorts o
Eegetation that are likely to appear il
ac~,ouo ~ lon ~ q 4